Ben Schlappig from One Mile at a Time reviewed the Hyatt House/Hyatt Place LAX and offered “I wouldn’t stay again, because I have issues supporting the owner and developer of the property (Aaron Schock).” He did not explain further, so I thought I would offer ‘the rest of the story.’
Schock is a former Illinois Republican Congressman who was indicted (but paid a fine as part of a deferred-prosecution agreement) for misappropriation of campaign funds. He came out as gay in 2020, but had a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign.
What’s perhaps on point for the points and travel space is that his illegal activity actually had a miles and points angle.
While most of the attention was paid to lavish personal spending billed to his political activities, including claiming $138,663 in ‘fraudulent mileage reimbursements’ which involved reporting that he drove 150,000 miles more than shown on odometers, he also used campaign funds to charter a plane from Washington Dulles to Peoria after misconnecting on a Membership Rewards points redemption back from Europe.
In August 2013, Schock used American Express points to book a vacation to Europe from Washington Dulles Airport. When his connecting flight from Peoria was delayed, he chartered an airplane for more than $8,000, and charged his campaign account for the cost, according to the indictment.
It strikes me as an interesting question whether the Illinois Pritzker family which controls Hyatt ought to partner with a corrupt former Illinois congressman in his post-congressional career, and whether they ought to find corruption or Schock’s politics more troubling given their own?
How does a disgraced ex-congressman who lived with his parents become a hotel owner and developer?
Since the adjective ‘corrupt’ is unnecessary when using the noun ‘politician’, anything marketing to anyone should steer clear of all politicians.
One could just as easily say should one stay at Hyatts since it’s controlled by a corrupt Illinois governor’s family? (Just wait, all recent Illinois governors are eventually found to be corrupt. One doesn’t advance in Democratic circles in Illinois unless palms are being greased.)
I have found that generally speaking, unless I am paying people directly for their services, I don’t generally care who owns something if it’s something I find of value. Do I find Bill Penzey highly annoying? Yes. Do I enjoy using his spices? Yes. Should my contribution to him of a few cents per jar preclude me from getting far more than that out of his spices? No. At the same time, I wouldn’t pay him anything to see him speak. Nor would I stay at any Trump hotels, as they just look tacky and overpriced. But I have been to a restaurant located inside one because it was an excellent restaurant run by a restauranteur who just happened to rent space in the place. here are people who refuse to buy Japanese cars because of Pearl Harbor or German cars because of the Holocaust, even though the people involved with those events are long gone and the countries are considered allies.
Life is way too short to worry about whether things are politically pure from any direction. If it’s a good product, buy it. If not, don’t.
Gary, politicians have perpetrated never ending fraud on the public in the form of Covid, race, and climate hysteria. The current governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, is embroiled in a pay to play scheme and scandal of buying 600 million dollar Covid tests from a campaign donor despite other providers charging 100 million for the same test kits. As others have pointed out here, politicians criminalize speech, Christianity, and don’t seem to care about bodily autonomy when workers are fired for not wanting to pump their bodies with an undertested, unproven, and side effect causing Covid vaccine.
I don’t see why you should use the human rights campaign as a barometer. They probably think speech should be a crime, Christianity is offensive, people should be forced to rent their homes to groups they don’t care to, and gender ideology should be pushed on 5 year olds in school as part of the curriculum.
Seeking to reimburse himself for living costs by charging his campaign funds for trips that are exaggerated is basically nothing. To call him corrupt on that basis but not use corrupt in any headline involving Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, McConnell, AOC, Trudeau, or Newsom is disingenuous.
That’s my take.
Schock actually has an interesting story in that he… was indicted for using campaign funds to lavishly redecorate his office in the style of Downton Abbey. Yes, really. Everyone in the area knew he was, uhh, a little different. It was almost an open secret (see above: Downton Abbey themed Congressional office).
There’s more, too. When he came ultimately came out as gay, he said his family had pressured him while he grew up (truly, sad), and that they now cut him out of their lives(!). Further, he expressed regret for his positions while in office. Personal take: He doesn’t deserve forgiveness, because none of this even happened while he was in office. He voted, repeatedly, against gay rights when he had power and it actually mattered. His life can be a tragedy and he can also be a true villain. They’re not mutually exclusive. That said, he probably should be accepted for who he is: a driven, but deeply flawed individual primarily interested in benefiting himself.
On top of all that, my recollection is there was a questionable transaction that made him his wealth… something about buying a property near Bradley University in Peoria, then lobbying and convincing the University to purchase it from him at a considerable markup (think tripling your money in 2 years kind of markup).
John Dogas
+100
@ Gary — Why not? Isn’t Hyatt owned by the corrupt current governor of Illinois? Seems like a good match.
Why not. They’re All crooks in one way or another.
I guess you have to ask yourself are the people running the business actually corrupt and continue to be corrupt? If we believe in the notion that if you have paid your penalty (whether financially, jail time or reputationally) do we have the right to continue to extract more “penalties,” or to we move forward. However, if a company continues to engage in, as a policy matter, behaviors you don’t like, then take your business elsewhere and feel free to speak out thusly, if you want. Boycotts and sanctions rarely cause the intended target to be “hit.” Instead, it’s the front-line workers that take the brunt (angry customers, business closures, job losses, etc).
Illinois isn’t for amateurs. JB and Hyatt would partner with a person like this congressman because this is normal for them. A “Springfield” Republican is a RHINO and not a Conservative Republican like most of the state of Illinois outside Springfield and Chicago.
I think it is important to direct your spend away from people who hate (anti LGBTQI Equality and Acceptance) sorry C_M. For example, How can so many people support that chicken not cow sandwich place when it’s corporate owners are so hateful??
OTOH I enjoy a good political comment/joke and the Record of Illinois Governors does come to mind in this category;-)
I stay at the H Hotel at LAX. also a dual branded building
But I’m not prefect and I like to be upfront about my hypocrisies for each of the 3 times I’ve stayed at the Marina Bay Sands in Hong Kong
Since the pritzker family owns Hyatt, you can be rest assured there will never be cutbacks to food and beverage at their hotels.
If the Hyatt is the best value or nearest to the place I need to be.. I’ll stay there…
The corporate shill at One Credit Card at a Time taking a stand against corruption. LOL. LOL. LOL.
The Hyatt family’s Jennifer Pritzker — born James Pritzker — is a Republican. Jenny Pritzker was a major supporter of the con-man Donald Trump before sort of turning on the con-man Trump in 2020.
@GUWonder – The Illinois governor’s uncle Robert Pritzker, whose Marmon Group contributed half of the family fortune, was a Republican and former Chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers. He met his second wife while she was working at a Hyatt property.
So he went after “the staff” while visiting an Australian Hyatt property. Was she at the PH Sydney, or was it a different Hyatt property?
There would later be that litigation business over his trying to disinherit (or limit the influence of) his children born of the Australian Hyatt mother after he got upset at her over the end of the relationship.
A soap opera writer has rich material there. Just like corruption seekers have rich material with Illinois politics.
Corrupt Illinois Congressman
That’s redundant
@Bill n DC – Tell me your beliefs and tell me what you buy and I’ll quickly tell you why you’re a “bad person”. That’s generally a can of worms you don’t want to open unless you want to get on a hamster wheel of always trying to live up to the virtues of extremists.
FWIW, you’re just virtue signaling. I’ll bet you never eat fast food chicken sandwiches from any chain. Or if you do, you’re a horrible human being for not being vegan. Chickens have a face!
In 2009, Mr. Schock was the commencement speaker at my university. Can imagine the hilariousness that ensued after he got arrested.